Thursday, February 17, 2011

Rush Make A Trade To Replace Departed Defender

By Mike Wilson
After the weekend the Rush won their tfirst two games, but they decided that they are still not good enough.
On Wednesday the Rush traded away D Ian Hawksbee For Stealth D-man Tyler Codron.

At first when I heard this trade I wasn’t a fan of it, mainly because of the timing. The Rush had two weeks without a game and a win where this trade would have made more sense.

After a weekend where you get your first wins against the defending NLL champions, you would think it would be a week where a GM can relax.

But I did more digging, I figured out this trade makes more sense then I thought.

Back when the now surging Rush were 0-3 Head Coach and GM Derek Keenan Knew that the Rush needed more grit, more battle, and more fight. Also, at that point the Rush only tallied a total of 22 goals in three games.

Keenan searched for the answer and found one Scott Evans. An Offensive foreword with sandpaper to his game. So far, Evans has 4 goals and 10 points as well as 9 penalty minutes.

He hasn’t supplied the offense, but has opened up space on the floor for other offensive players. In the last four games since he has been acquired, the Rush have scored 51 goals.

The trade has been good for the Rush, but to make it they had to send away shut down defender Rory Glaves. Glaves was with the Rush from day one.

Without Rory, the defence has struggled.

The Rush with Glaves: 10.7 AGA
The Rush without Glaves : 13 AGA

Also note that the Rush took on Toronto and Boston in their first 2 games. Both teams have above average offenses.

Keenan realized that the Rush needed to patch the hole the Glaves left so he picked up another defender that plays the same game in Tyler Codron.

Cordon is bigger and younger then Hawksbee, so this trade might end up being a great one for the Rush.